


Island adventure

by Prawnperson



Series: Submarine series [10]
Category: Don’t Starve (Video Game)
Genre: Bonding, F/M, Fluff, Tiny Walani, if you only take one thing away from this let it be that Walani is SMALL, return of them, that’s very important, this one’s long man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 20:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19236355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prawnperson/pseuds/Prawnperson
Summary: The crew returns from the lunar island after a successful voyage.





	Island adventure

She’s missed this. Wholly and desperately, she’s missed this.

Despite her love of the mainland and her newfound friendships with the survivors who inhabit it, she’s longed to be tearing along the waves like she used to be able to on the daily.

Upon gaining Wilson’s permission on the grounds she didn’t stay out too long or go too far, Walani has been allowed to take her surfboard off from one of their main boats. Woodlegs had similarly taken the sea legs out on his own under the pretence of navigation, which all of them knew to be a lie, but who were they to deny a pirate his access to the open ocean?

Walani has been surfing for a good hour or so, coasting up and down on the wide, dark waves, letting the salt spray wash over her, stiffening her hair in that funny, curly way and making her skin dewy. She swivels her core, pushes onwards to the next wave and feels the tremendous thrill as she rides with it, totally focussed on the brilliant sensation of the surf.

She doesn’t notice as the sky turns dusky, doesn’t notice the dark shape that looms below her only to quickly dive deeper. She doesn’t notice much of anything other than the sea until she hears a few others cry out not too far off. They can see land.

She makes her way back over to the main boat, currently holding Willow, Wilson, Maxwell and Wigfrid, who is impatiently squirming on the wooden bench of the vessel. They begin to skirt the edge of the island before the sun has dipped below the water line, and Willow is the first to step foot onto the powdery, lavender-blue land of the newly found lunar island.

———

The trip is successful. Incredibly so. They return with both boats full of newly found loot, as well as the small raft dragging behind the sea legs. The temporary base had been peaceful, calm, and with more than enough food wrapped up, they had been able to explore in comfort and, at least for the first part of the excursion, relative safety, without having to worry about the trivial matter of starvation.

Wilson rambles on about the moon moths held in a jar in his lap the whole ride home, Willow listening intently. Maxwell reads over some of the new blueprints, enjoying the peace that comes with the absence of Wendy, Webber and Abigail. Wigfrid spends a good portion of her time sulking over the fact she had nothing more to fight than a few puny spiders and the occasional resurrected hound, but, as Wilson reminds her, at least there was nothing too dangerous for the rest of them, unskilled as they were. She perks up slightly at that, and Willow rolls her eyes. Gentleman, indeed.

Walani had been the worst injured of the lot, being one of the weaker members of the party as well as one of the most foolhardy. Thankfully, she had still escaped mainly unscathed, and was still able to carry out her duty as assistant navigator and boat repairs woman.

She spends the remainder of the sail planning her entrance.

———

Upon their arrival back to land, they journey the short distance to base camp. Walani finds WX-78 sitting in the dirt with Wendy and Webber, poking at pill bugs with a stick, a melancholy look on their face.  
She saunters over with the parcel of loot in her hands and taps them once, gently on the shoulder. They turn in alarm, and she sees an almost undetectable change in their expression. 

“WALANI?”

“Hey!”

They immediately rise up to their full height, and Walani notices for the first time how much shorter and finer she is compared to them, how lanky they are. She can’t think how it escaped her before.

“HOW WAS THE MOON?”

They ask, with all the excitement of a child in their voice. She giggles, smiles at them warmly.

“It was good! We saw a lot...but first, let’s do presents, yes?”

WX-78 nods ecstatically, so she sits down cross legged and lets them join her. She places the paper parcel in her lap and unwraps it, just hiding the contents from the robot sitting across from her. 

“Well, firstly, I got you this.”

She hands them a large, pale, creamy flower. WX stares at it blankly, but does not crush it into pulp like they do with most other variations of plant matter, instead cradling the petals gently.

“It’s a lune tree blossom.”

She states, watching as WX carefully sets it to the side. They’ve always said that their appreciation for beauty is limited, but something tells her that they’ll treat anything related to the moon with a little more respect.

“Now, this is a lunar moth.”

She holds up the tiny, silky little creature, now dead but still perfectly preserved as a whole insect. WX tilts their head, and Walani can see that the tiny little cameras set into their eyes twist to zoom in on it, examining the crescent moon patterns on its wings.

“Ok, this? You’ll like this. Close your eyes.”

WX scoffs, but still obeys, shutting their eyes. Walani takes their hands from where they’re folded in the robot’s lap, and doesn’t miss the small noise they let out at the contact. Their hands are surprisingly warm, and they look much larger than hers, and-

She reaches back into the parcel and places a large chunk of cold, silvery rock into their palms. WX opens their eyes and gasps metallically, gazing at the little piece of the moon in their hand.

“Just what you asked for.”

“OH, IT’S....IT’S SO COLD...”

They sigh, and Walani swears she can hear something in their voice that’s never been revealed before. 

“I ENJOY THIS IMMENSELY!”

Walani beams, and WX beams, and for a second, she forgets about all the the energy and effort the expedition took to pull off.

“There’s one last thing, Wex.”

They look at her expectantly, still clutching the moon rock like a child with a toy, and watch as the surfer carefully takes something slender and dazzling from the packet before her.

Their systems heat up to the point of malfunction at the sight of a jagged blade.

“It’s a glass cutter. Pretty out of this world, huh?”

She hands it over as though it’s nothing, and WX just barely lets go off the moon rock to grasp the handle. It feels perfect, lightweight and elegant, but still deadly, the perfect weapon with which to slit and slice and exterminate. It’s gorgeous, it’s near perfection, and it’s from her. WX mumbles something incomprehensible, and Walani questions them.

“YOUR SUBSERVIENCE TO ME WILL NOT GO UNNOTICED.” 

Walani laughs, but can’t say anything more before WX interrupts her.

“THANK YOU, WALANI.”

She stares, slightly open mouthed, her face flushing warm and dark. It’s incredibly noticeable, and she knows it. Despite her flustering, she still lets out a nervous giggle.

“Don’t mention it.”

WX continues to admire their gifted spoils, grinning only somewhat manically, before turning their gaze up to the woman in front of them. Her hair is wild and matted with the ocean salt, making her look like an old-timey adventurer. There’s a honey poultice wrapped around her arm, and several tender looking bruises all along her neck and collar bones, and WX wants to dab healing salve on them, wants to stop it from hurting even though they should enjoy it.

“WE WILL USE THIS BLADE IN THE NEAR FUTURE. NOW, GO AND TAKE REST.”

They get up, and wait patiently for her to stand as well. They are thankful they can mask walking her to their tent as merely travelling to their own, and they bid her goodnight. She wishes the same before disappearing into the cloth abode to take a nap that will no doubt turn into a dead sleep that lasts until well past noon. Well, for once, she’s earned it.

WX arranges their new moon trinkets next to the toy robot in their tent and sets about making some healing salve for the next day, telling themselves it’s for no one in particular.

**Author's Note:**

> It’s very important that I say a big ol’ thank you to my friend Victoria (sicut-anima on tumblr) for proof reading this and noticing so many mistakes. Without her this would be a shambles grammatically.


End file.
